Blast At Big Spring Oil Refinery Rattles Buildings, Injures 4

BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) – An oil refinery burned for hours Monday after a violent explosion shook buildings and frightened residents miles away, officials said.

Four workers were injured, including an employee hospitalized for burns whose condition was unknown, said Blake Lewis, a spokesman for refinery owner Alon USA. Lewis said three contractors were treated but not hospitalized – one for a concussion and two for possible hearing problems.

Lewis said all workers were accounted for about an hour after the 8:30 a.m. explosion.

Fires that lingered after the blast were under control but still burning Monday afternoon, Lewis said. The Dallas-based company is waiting for access to the site to investigate the accident’s cause, he said.

The blast sent black smoke billowing into the sky, closed schools and shut down an interstate.

“It was extremely scary. You shook you were so scared,” said Laura McEwen, the wife of Mayor Russ McEwen, who lives about two miles from the refinery. “Our walls shook. It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake.”

Two elementary schools were evacuated, then classes were canceled at all nine campuses in the Big Spring school district, said assistant superintendent Carie Dunnam.

Classes also were canceled at Howard College, according to the two-year junior college’s Web site.

The explosion forced open the doors of the school district’s administration building about four miles from the plant, Dunnam said.

“Literally pieces of my ceiling came on top of my head,” she said.

The refinery employs about 170 people and has the capacity to put out about 70,000 barrels a day.

Interstate 20 was shut down near the plant, Big Spring police spokesman Roger Sweatt said.